NCSA In The News

The parents of America’s digitally literate teenagers are largely in the dark about their children’s internet activity, new research has shown. The new study on teen internet use by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that only 13% of teens thought their parents understood the extent of their internet use.

It's no secret that most brides-to-be plan their weddings online. After all, with so many apps and websites out there, it'd be silly not to. However, many couples forget the most important rules of internet safety, which 100 percent apply to your wedding planning and honeymoon. The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) put together a fun and important infographic that outlines key tips to remember, including:

You wouldn’t hand a stranger your credit card, or wear a T-shirt printed with your social security number. But if you’re frivolous about your digital privacy, you might as well. If you want to keep your data and identity safe online, you have to take an active role in protecting yourself and your devices, says Michael Kaiser, executive director of the non-profit National Cyber Security Alliance.

Online dating sites are popular with adults of all ages, and the number of people turning to the Internet to find romance has risen steadily during the past decade, according to Pew Research Institute findings. As many as 1 in 10 people now use online platforms, though only about 5 percent of those in a committed relationship or married say they met their partner online.

The 5th of May is World Password Day, the ideal opportunity to raise awareness of passwords with your organisation's staff and senior management. This is the fourth year passwords have been honoured in this way. The event recurs annually on the first Thursday of May.

Forty-four percent of 1,100 senior executives at large companies around the world, including healthcare organizations, say a shortage of skilled workers is a major barrier to better data security. That’s according to the “2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report,” published by data security technology vendor Vormetric and IT research and consulting firm 451 Research.

In February 2016, the White House announced the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, which aims to increase federal cybersecurity funding by more than a third to over $19 billion. One of the key components of the plan was a partnership with the National Cyber Security Alliance called the “National Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign” that will focus on educating consumers and federal employees about how to protect themselves through multifactor authentication.

For a tech nerd like myself, this is Disney World. (No lines either!) Within the facility, AT&T's technicians oversee all of the data about all the data that people are sending one another over the company's vast network. The many, many displays in this building depict where calls are coming from, how info-packets are flowing from wire to wire, who may be experiencing issues, and what might need fixing. If the network is a nervous system, then this is its brain.